Sketch for the book “Examen und Psyche”

Commentary of the picture:

A few years before the Russian Revolution, the popular art movement known as Constructivism erupted into society, adopted by the architects of the revolution as an ideal form of propaganda to spread soviet thought amongst the people, using colourist elements, figures with elemental force and stereotypical expressions. In the 20th century, there is no better example of political propaganda than the Bolshevik revolution and no better method to channel a social ideal than Constructivism.

Nikolai Sedelnikov, recognised as a Soviet avant-garde artist, joined the October Group in 1928. Focussing on applied and industrial arts, the group contained a large number of popular artists in the USSR at the time, including names such as Mechislav Dobrokovsky, Paula Freiberg, Nikolai Lapin or even Diego Rivera (who lived in the USSR from 1927-1928). It sought a higher level of artistic expression, abandoning the previous creative simplicity. The group declared its interest in developing poster technique and book cover design, as in Sedelnikov’s work Sketch for the book “Examen und Psyche”.
Rodchenko, Senken and Varvara Stepanova also joined this group, expressing their ideas individually. As the Soviet rulers did not accept the ideals of the group’s members, they were accused by the RAPKh (Russian Association of Proletarian Artists) of “abolishing art”.

In the work Sketch for the book “Examen und Psyche”, the artist focusses on Constructivist simplicity, both in design and in relation to colour, to create the front and back cover for a book. A simple play of black bands on a white background provide the highlighted effect desired by Sedelnikov, making the book title stand out in white letters with a negativa text effect. The introduction of the colour orange provides a place for the authors’ names and, in combination with two black lines, emphasizes the book’s spine. The combination of orange and black horizontal lines form an “E”, the first letter of the book title.

The cover design is a clear example of Soviet Constructivism. Uncomplicated, direct forms and a combination of simple but striking colours exemplify the representative ideal of art as a means to convey a direct message. lts simplicity avoids any misinterpretation of the message. The size of the sketch, similar to the actual book size, enabled the artist, book authors and the Soviet propaganda office to analyse the final effect of the cover.

Artists’ sketches have always fulfilled a very specific illustrative purpose for publishers. In the case of the Soviet avantgardes, this message needed to be even more direct and representativa, as can be seen in this work. Nikolai Sedelnikov developed various art methods, such as photography, photomontage, painting and the design of book covers. His paintings are comparable to Kasimir Malevich’s period of Supremacist Abstraction. On the other hand, for his book cover designs, Sedelnikov is remembered as a representativa of Constructivism, as defined by Anton Pevsner and Naum Gabo in 1920.

Guillermo Cervera